Ordinary every day

12 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , , ,

During the rule of King Herod of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron. They were both righteous before God, blameless in their observance of all the Lord’s commandments and regulations. They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to become pregnant and they both were very old. One day Zechariah was serving as a priest before God because his priestly division was on duty. Following the customs of priestly service, he was chosen by lottery to go into the Lord’s sanctuary and burn incense.  All the people who gathered to worship were praying outside during this hour of incense offering. An angel from the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw the angel, he was startled and overcome with fear. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayers have been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to your son and you must name him John. ~Luke 1:5-13 (CEB)

“The power of stories is that they are telling us that life adds up somehow, that life itself is like a story. And this grips us and fascinates us because of the feelings it gives us that if there is meaning in any life – in [Zechariah’s], in Mary’s, in Christ’s- then there is meaning in our lives. And if this is true, it is of enormous significance in itself, and makes us listen to the story teller with great intensity because in this way all his stories are about us and because it is always possible that he may give us some clue as to what the meaning of our lives is.” ~From The Magnificent Defeat by Frederick Buechner

In this season of waiting, it is a good reminder for me to read the stories of others. It is good to see in retrospect their lives and how they fit into God’s bigger story. Even my story may have value if seen through God’s eyes. In the stories of others I find hope and I am strengthened for the journey that is mine. In the once everyday ordinary turned extraordinary of others I begin to believe that my ordinariness can have value too. And if my ordinariness can be valued by God… yours can be too…

Heavenly Father, in the ordinariness of everyday life help me to shine for You. May I never see life as too mundane to use it for Your glory. Give me strength in the times where waiting is what is required give me the strength to wait with the expectancy of great things to come. Amen.

When God comes seeking

11 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

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Mary got up and hurried to a city in the Judean highlands. She entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. With a loud voice she blurted out, “God has blessed you above all women, and he has blessed the child you carry. Why do I have this honor, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. Happy is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill the promises he made to her.” ~Luke 1:39-45 (CEB)

“God tells Zechariah through an angel’s visit that he and his wife will know the joy of having a child, but Elizabeth comes to that knowledge without an angel or a dream or any special sign to help her believe. She knows the incredible joy of having her disgrace wiped away, but she also experiences the added joy of recognizing that God is about to do something even more wonderful, and not just for her and Zechariah personally but for the whole world. She realizes that God comes to us individually. And that reality is remarkable. God could herd us all together like flocks of sheep and redeem us in groups. God could sap whole congregations and speed up the process of saving the world. But God wants relationships with each of us and chooses to come to us one by one…

Elizabeth is overwhelmed when she realizes that the mother of the Messiah has come to her personally. A righteous and blameless person, she finds that fact of being sought by God difficult to grasp and impossible to explain. We ordinary folks who intimately know ourselves to be less than righteous and less than blameless find it even more difficult to understand that God seeks us out and wants relationship with us! Because relationships are built one person at a time, God invests time and energy in each one of us, knowing each one of us is unique and infinitely valuable.” ~From While We Wait by Mary Lou Redding.

While we wait we sometimes forget that we can be found. The Christmas story has many windows of God entering personally into the lives of His people. The Advent season is a time of waiting, but in that waiting we find hope. We are reminded that God never leaves us alone in our darkness. Although we cannot always “see” Him, the darkness is as light to Him. (Psalm 139:12) We may be “blind” to Him but we are never lost to Him.

Heavenly Father, I thank You for sending Jesus into the world to find the lost, the sick, the blind. I thank You Jesus for loving us so much that you were willing to physically come down here to be with us, not just to tell us of the Father’s love but to show us that love. I thank you Jesus for being willing to be that candle in the dark for us, guiding us to the true Light. May I feel that Love this Advent season through relationships that You have given me. Amen.

To trust Him with it all

09 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , ,

I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the LORD; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope. When you call me and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. When you search for me, yes, search for me with all your heart, you will find me. ~Jer 29:11-12

I have a dark secret. I worry about my children. Sometimes it is that deep dark crippling kind of worry where I find that the air has stopped flowing through my lungs. God has recently confronted me about these fears I have for my children.

I have embraced God’s promises and I know that He will take care of me and provide for me. I know deep in my heart that there is nothing that can separate me from God’s love and that He will take care of me. But do I have enough faith in God to think the same things for my children? Apparently not. I so worry about the hurts my children have sustained. I worry over the choices that they make. I can see the long term effects cut deep into them and how it could follow them through life.

God asked me one day. Do you not think that my promises are for your children too? Do you not think that I can use all of these things, their hurts and choices for their future? Do you not believe that I can use all these things for their good?

Despite the choices that my children make, despite the hurts they incur, God is holding them in His hands just like he has me in His hands. God has used all my pain and suffering and turned it into glory for Him. He will do the same for my children. That doesn’t absolve me of training them in the way they are to go but it does release me of the control and give control to God.

Heavenly Father, again I turn my children over to you. Protect their hearts, lead them in the way they are to go. I know that You will use all things to their ultimate good. I know that it will all be for Your glory. I trust that You love my children even more than I do. Amen.

Caught unaware

08 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

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Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? My wife and I are very old.”

The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in God’s presence. I was sent to speak to you and to bring this good news to you. Know this: What I have spoken will come true at the proper time. But because you didn’t believe, you will remain silent, unable to speak until the day when these things happen.” ~(CEB)

“Zechariah was a deeply religious man, a man full of years and full of experience. He was a leader in the religious life of his community, and he was filled with a question that would not go away. Even an angelic visit did not calm his fears or answer his questions. ‘How can I know that God’s promises is true for me?’

It is easy for us to make light of Zechariah’s struggle, thinking it would be different for us. If an angel visited us, we would believe. If we have received such a direct promise from God, we would trust and rejoice. But the truth is we have received a much greater and more direct promise. We have the life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus to confirm the promise of God’s love and provision.  We have the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to assure us the companionship of God and the power of God in everyday life. We have two thousand years of experience to remind us and assure us that God can be trusted and that God will provide. But the questions are not easily put to test. What if I am wrong and five my life to the focus of my wishful thinking and not to the living God? What if I am listening to my own desire and not the voice of God as I seek direction for my life? What if God leads me astray and into a life that is too much for me?

Zechariah is not the only one who hears the nagging questions. We hear them too. How will I know God is guiding me? How will I know God will provide for me? How will I know that God will forgive me? How will I know God loves me as an individual? How will I know? How will I know God? These are the nagging questions that lurk close in many of our lives, and to deny them is to give them power they do not have. To face the questions honestly and directly is to see them for what they are- a response of fear to our lack of faith. So what shall we do? Continue our life as Zechariah did- praying, serving, listening. And as we continue our disciplined listening for the voice of God, we will be called to remember that God does care for us and provide for us in wonderful ways, even when we are unaware of that provision.

After living with the questions, the apostle Paul said, ‘I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels . . . , nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord,’ (Rom. 8:38-39). The assurance that we are enfolded in the loving arms of God can still the nagging questions and grant us the grace, peace, and serenity to live all of life fully and faithfully every day. Grant us this blessed assurance today and always.” ~Rueben P. Job

O God our Father, who didst send forth Your Son to be King of kings and Prince of Peace: Grant that all the kingdoms of this world may become the kingdom of Christ, and learn of him the way of peace. Send forth among all people the spirit of good will and reconciliation. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ~Adapted from The Book of Worship

Even when I have done everything wrong

07 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , ,

Remember Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead and descended from David. This is my good news. This is the reason I’m suffering to the point that I’m in prison like a common criminal. But God’s word cannot be imprisoned. This is why I endure everything for the sake of those who are chosen by God so that they too may experience salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This saying is reliable:

“If we have died together, we will also live together.

If we endure, we will also rule together.

If we deny him, he will also deny us.

If we are disloyal, he stays faithful”

because he can’t be anything else than what he is. ~2 Timothy 2:8-13 (CEB)

“His coming is bound to his promise, not to our works or virtue. We have not earned the meeting with God because we have served him faithfully in our brethren, or because we have heaped up such a pile of virtue as to shine before Heaven.

God is thrust onward by his love, not attracted by our beauty. He comes even in moments when we have done everything wrong, when we have done nothing . . . . when we have sinned.” ~From The God Who Comes by Carlo Carretto

O Lord my God, I thank You for being faithful even when I have not. Thank You for being there in my moments of mess up. Thank You for being there in my moments of heartbreak. May I serve You this day as one who has been forgiven and who has learned to walk out into the light. Amen.

A practice of faith

06 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

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Even young people are known by their actions, whether their conduct is pure and upright. ~Prov. 20:11 (CEB)

“There is no need to multiply examples of what is so patently an essential condition of the Christian walk. We are saved through faith- an unflagging, unwavering attachment to the person of Jesus Christ.

What is the depth and quality of your faith commitment? In the last analysis, faith is not a way of speaking or even of thinking; it is a way of living. Maurice Blondel said, ‘If you want to know what a person really believes, don’t listen to what he says but watch what he does.’ Only the practice of faith can verify what we believe. Does faith permeate the whole of your life? Does it form your judgments about death, about success? Does it influence the way you read the newspaper? Do you have a divine sense of humor that sees through people and events into the unfolding plan of God? When things are turbulent on the surface of your life, do you retain a quiet calm, firmly fixed in ultimate reality? As Therese of Lisieux said, ‘Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things are passing. God alone remains.’ Does your faith shape your Advent season this year?” ~From Reflections for Ragamuffins by Brennan Manning

Almighty God, thank you for reminding me that Jesus Christ is my Lord and that I am Your servant. Thank You for the reminder that I am loved; I am forgiven; I am empowered; and that I have been sent out to live as Your faithful one. Amen.

In the end

04 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

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He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the order of things has passed away. ~Rev. 21:4

“Christmas is the promise that the God who came in history and comes daily in mystery will one day come in glory. God is saying in Jesus that in the end everything will be all right. Nothing can harm you permanently, no suffering is irrevocable, no loss is lasting, no defeat is more than transitory, no disappointment is conclusive. Jesus did not deny the reality of suffering, discouragement, disappointment, frustration, and death; he simply stated that the Kingdom of God would conquer all of these horrors, that the Father’s love is so prodigal that no evil could possibly resist it.” ~From Reflections for Ragamuffins by Brennan Manning

Heavenly Father, You gave us the greatest gift of all, not wrapped in shinny paper and ribbons, but in flesh and blood. Thank You for sending Your love into the world to show us the way. Amen.

Prayers and promises

02 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

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All of God’s promises have their yes in him. That is why we say Amen through him to the glory of God. ~2 Cor 1:20

“When Luther wrote, ‘Faith is the yes of the heart, a confidence on which one stakes one’s life,’ he was saying faith is a response of the whole self to God. It is not just our words: the creeds we confess, the prayers we pray, the way we argue our faith, or what we say in teaching our children. It is not just our works and deeds: our faithful attendance at church, our participation on committees, or our acts of love toward others.

This yes is an inner assent of the will. It is a willingness to receive the grace and the guidance of God. It can be so deep and far-reaching as to cause a real conversion of life, a real repentance, a turning around to go in a completely new direction. It always involves, says Luther, the daily death of the person we have been in order to fulfill our reason for being alive: to accomplish God’s will in our time and place.” ~From Fatih, the Yes of the Heart by Grace Adolphsen Brame

Lord Jesus Christ, You have promised never to forsake or leave me. Accept my life and ministry as a living sacrifice to You and grant me strength to keep my promises to You. In the name of Christ. Amen.

Transform me

21 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , ,

So, brothers and sisters, because of God’s mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. This is your appropriate priestly service. Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature. ~Romans 12:1-2 (CEB)

“’Being in the world without being of the world.’ These words summarize will the way Jesus speaks of the spiritual life. It is a life in which we are totally transformed by the Spirit of love. Yet it is a life in which everything seems to remain the same. To live a spiritual life does not mean that we must leave our families, give up our jobs, or change our ways of working; it does not mean that we have to withdraw from social or political activities, or lose interest in literature and art; it does not require severe forms of asceticism or long hours of prayer. . . . What is new is that we have moved from the many things to the kingdom of God. What is new is that we are set free from the compulsions of our world and have set our hearts on the only necessary thing. What is new is that we no longer experience the many things, people, and events as endless causes for worry, but begin to experience them as the rich variety of ways in which God makes his presence known to us.” ~From Making All Things New by Henri J.M. Nouwen

Almighty God, send your transforming power into my life as I seek to serve you this day. Grant unto me wisdom, courage, grace, and strength to faithfully fulfill the work to which you have called me. In the name of Christ. Amen.

Set my life aflame

20 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , , , ,

You are the one who created my innermost parts; you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb. I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart. Your works are wonderful—I know that very well. My bones weren’t hidden from you when I was being put together in a secret place, when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my embryo, and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me, before any one of them had yet happened. God, your plans are incomprehensible to me! Their total number is countless! If I tried to count them—they outnumber grains of sand! If I came to the very end—I’d still be with you. ~Psalm 139:13-18 (CEB)

“My God, every fiber of my being vibrates at the touch of your grace- whereby I am given the privilege of being your child. My joy at your overwhelming gestures of love and the high privilege you extend to me of entering into your life invades my being with an acute sense of your ever- nearness. In response to this, my Lord, I offer praises to you.

Yet, my Lord, I am often cold toward you. I forget to love you for long periods of time- and this to my own harm and regret. Forgive me, Lord! Everloving God, set my life aflame with love for you only. O my God, I long to reflect your image through the world so that others might observe your doing in me and themselves be convinced that you love them also. Amen. ~Norman Shawchuck

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